Hi, hello, aloha, bonjour, and all other greetings in different languages!

Welcome, welcome, to BOOKLYCAT! (Anyone get the reference?) In case you haven't read the 'ABOUT' page let me take this time to introduce myself. My name is Emma, I am 20 years old and live in Edinburgh, Scotland. I love reading.. surprisingly.. and am most definitely a crazy cat lady. I only have one cat - whom you will probably see in posts to come! - but I spend a lot of time with 12 gorgeous little fur babies at the cat cafe in Edinburgh! I am a huuuuuggeeee Hamilton fan, along with many other musicals, so you may see some references here and there - I just can't help myself!

Anyway! Can we get back to books (please?) (Whoops, musical reference number 1 right there!)

I read loads when I was a kid and have fond memories of falling asleep in the middle of a chapter and waking up to the book quite literally in my face. As I've grown older I have learnt to put the book down before that happens, especially as I read a considerable amount more hardbacks. I'd rather not drop one on my head! High school put a stop to my reading, but not my love of books. I'll be very honest with you all here as I see no reason to hide; I went through a very rough time with my mental health during my high school years and I just lost interest in everything. I read my books for school but nothing else. I missed the Shadowhunters, Hunger Games, etc craze and I hadn't even read Harry Potter until 2011! I always knew I loved books. I felt a warmth when I went past the school library and I always loved browsing and thinking some sounded so cool. I could just never get into them the way I used to. And then by chance one day I was wandering around handing CVs into stores when I spied an advertisement for a part-time bookseller in Waterstones! I couldn't believe it! Handed in my CV, got an interview and then landed the job! I worked there for over two years and it was the best time of my life. The staff were great, (most) of the customers were great, the job was great. My mental health was not. Unfortunately I have now left the company, but those two and a half years have given me invaluable experience - and gave me back my love of reading. I still struggle, and I definitely have reading slumps. But I am now so in love with books, stories, adventures and the power of books and I am so excited to share what I find in these tomes with you all!

I hope you all enjoy reading my blog and will join me over on my bookstagram for more bookish posts as well as my twitter account for random musings about musicals, TV and life in general. You can find links to these on the contact page. I look forward to seeing where this blog can go and bringing you all with me!

Emma.

PS. You may just want to check out my bookstagram for a very special post announcing the beginning of the booklycat blog!